Protest mars Gauff surge into US Open final

Coco Gauff reached her second Grand Slam final with a 6-4, 7-5 defeat of Karolina Muchova on Thursday in a US Open match interrupted for nearly 50 minutes by climate change protests in the stands.

A group of four protesters began shouting early in the second set with play stopped as security moved into the upper reaches of the 24,000-seat venue to control the situation.

Local media reported one of the group wearing an “End Fossil Fuels” T-shirt had glued his feet to the cement floor of the Arthur Ashe Stadium stands and was soon surrounded by up to 15 New York police.

After nearly 40 minutes he was seen being escorted out in handcuffs by the cops, who had managed to free his feet from the floor after leading away the other three.

Both Gauff and Muchova left the court puzzled at the 10-minute mark and returned to the locker room during the unusual distraction.

The interruption proved to be so long that a full warmup was required before play resumed with Gauff up a set and 1-0.

“We had three environmental protestors, two were removed quickly. Security found one of them had glued his bare feet to the cement floor,” Tournament Director Stacey Allaster said.

An official tournament notice said: “Three of the four protesters were escorted out of the stadium without further incident. 

“The fourth protester affixed their bare feet to the floor of the seating bowl. Due to the nature of this action, NYPD and medical personnel were needed in order to safely remove this individual from the stadium.

“The four protesters were taken into NYPD custody.”  

After the resumption, Gauff went about her business of becoming the youngest finalist here since 1999, finally moving through on her sixth match point.

That opportunity was set up by a massive 40-shot rally, with the American teenager finally prevailing.

She repeated a win she took three week ago in the final at Cincinnati over her Czech opponent.

“I grew up watching this event,” the winner said. “it means a lot to be in the final.

“There’s a lot to celebrate but the job is not done yet. I hope you fans back me on Saturday (final).’

Gauff will bid for the trophy against either second seed Aryna Sabalenka or fellow American Madison Keys.

In the opening set, Gauff got away to a 5-1 lead but was pulled up short as Muchova won the next three games to pull to 4-5.

The US teenager escaped after 48 minutes to capture the set with a break-back before the protest incident unfolded.

Gauf is now 17-1 since going out in the first round at Wimbledon two months ago.